Religion at the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana

Analyzes the role of religion in the civic and political incorporation of new migrants to the United States, especially as religion functions as a site of reistance to cultural assimilation and as a site that facilitates social incorporation.

Preface: Advancing Theory and Method / Lois Ann Lorentzen, Kevin M. Chun, Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, and Hien Duc Do vii

Acknowledgments xxvii

Part 1. Gender and Sexualities

Devotional Crossings: Transgender Sex Workers, Santisima Muerte, and Spiritual Solidarity in Guadalajara and San Francisco / Cymene Howe, Susanna Zaraysky, and Lois Ann Lorentzen 3

Sexual Borderlands: Lesbian and Gay Migration, Human Rights, and the Metropolitan Community Church / Cymene Howe 39

El Milagro Está en Casa: Gender and Private and Public Empowerment in a Migrant Pentecostal Church / Lois Ann Lorentzen with Rosalina Mira 69

Part 2. Acculturation

Religious Organizations in San Francisco Chinatown: Sites of Acculturation for Chinese Immigrant Youth / Kevin M. Chun 89

Immigrant Religious Adaptation: Vietnamese American Buddhists as Chua Viet Name (Vietnamese Buddhist Temple) / Hien Duc Do and Mimi Khúc 124

Part 3. Transnationalism

Americanizing Philippine Churches and Filipinizing American Congregations / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III 141

Creating a Transnational Religious Community: The Empress of Heaven and Goddess of the Sea, Tianhou/Mazu, from Beigang to San Francisco / Jonathan H. X. Lee 166

Ahora la luz: Transnational Gangs, the State, and Religion / Lois Ann Lorentzen with Luis Enrique Bazan 184

Transnational Hetzmek: From Oxkutzcab to San Francisco / Patricia Fortuny Loret de Mola 207

The Latino "Springtime" of the Catholic Church: Lay Religious Networks and Transnationalism from Below / Sarah Horton 243

Part 4. Civic and Political Engagment

We Do Not Bowl Alone: Cultural and Social Capital from Filipino Faiths / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Andrea Maison, and Dennis Marzan 265

Counterhegemony Finds Place in a Hegemon: Activism through Filipino-American Churches / Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III and Claudine del Rosario 285

Appendix A: Research Questions 311

Appendix B: Family Member Questionnaire 316

References 325

Contributors 355

Index 359